Evaluation of decentralized treatment of sewage employing bio-contact oxidation reactor integrated with filter bed

A bio-contact oxidation reactor integrated with filter bed (COR-FB) was developed for decentralized treatment of sewage, which consisted of a biofilm reactor and a gravitational filter bed. It has been investigated to treat municipal wastewater for reuse. The evaluation of COR-FB performance demonstrates that it produced good quality effluent regarding carbonaceous compound, nitrogenous compound, suspended solid and fecal coliform. The efficiencies of COD, NH₄⁺-N, TN, TP and turbidity removal were 90.7%, 81.4%, 64.6%, 60.1% and 96.7%, respectively. The residual geometric mean of fecal coliform counts in the final effluent of COR-FB was only 7.8 × 10³ MPN/10³ ml, corresponding to removal value of 3.8 log 10. However, TP removal indicates the necessity of an addition of a bagger and mud valve or an enhanced chemical phosphorus removal prior to treated water reuse. Microfauna communities were monitored in COR-FB, which was found to contain 5 genres and 19 species in the biofilm layer. Also, a simple kinetics model for COR-FB was developed based on the influent, effluent soluble COD concentration and the reaction time by regression simulation. In general, available data proved that COR-FB system can be recommended as a compact and cost-effective technology for decentralized treatment of sewage, especially for developing countries.     

Partial nitritation of landfill leachate with varying influent composition under intermittent aeration conditions

The start-up and operation of a partial nitritation sequencing batch reactor for the treatment of landfill leachate were carried out on intermittent aeration mode. Partial nitrite accumulation was established in 15 days after the mode was changed from continuous aeration to intermittent aeration. Despite the varying influent composition, partial nitritation could be maintained by adjusting the hydraulic retention time (HRT) and the air flow rate. An increase in the air flow rate together with a decrease in air off duration can improve the partial nitritation capacity and eventually result in the development of granular sludge with fine diameters. A nitrogen loading rate of 0.71 ± 0.14 kg/m³/d and a COD removal rate of 2.21 ± 0.13 kg/m³/d were achieved under the conditions of an air flow rate of 19.36 ± 1.71 m³ air/m³/h and an air on/off duration of 1.5 min/0.7 min. When the ratio of total air flux (TAF) to the influent loading rate (ILR) was controlled at the range of 163–256 m³ air/kg COD, a stable effluent NO₃^?–N/NO_x^?–N (NO₂^?–N plus NO₃^?–N) ratio below 13% was achieved. Interestingly, the effluent pH was found to be a good indicator of the effluent NO₂^?–N/NH₄⁺–N ratio, which is an essential parameter for a subsequent anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) reactor.     

Achieving stable partial nitritation using endpoint pH control in an SBR treating landfill leachate

The feasibility of using endpoint pH control to achieve stable partial nitritation (PN) in an SBR for landfill leachate treatment was investigated. By imposing a fixed-time anoxia followed by variable-time aeration in an SBR cycle, successful partial nitritation was maintained for 182 days at a nitrogen loading rate of 0.30–0.89 kg/m³/day. The effluent NO₂⁻-N/NH₄⁺-N ratio and the effluent NO₃⁻-N concentration were 1.30 ± 0.22 and 16 ± 9 mg/L, respectively. High free ammonia (FA) and low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations were inhibition factors of nitrate formation. The termination of aeration at a suitable endpoint pH was the key to achieve an effluent NO₂⁻-N/NH₄⁺-N ratio close to the stoichiometric value. This endpoint pH control strategy represents practical potentials in the engineered application of combined PN–ANAMMOX processes.     

On–off control of aeration time in the simultaneous removal of ammonia and manganese using a biological aerated filter system

The biological aerated filter (BAF) system, a new alternative in drinking water treatment, was designed to remove NH₄⁺–N and Mn²⁺ simultaneously. This study aimed to control the aeration time in the BAF system for simultaneous NH₄⁺–N and Mn²⁺ removal to achieve the Malaysian effluent quality regulation for drinking water. The experiment was conducted under four strategies of S1, S2, S3 and S4. The results demonstrated that acceptable levels of NH₄⁺–N and Mn²⁺ were achieved over a 6 h aeration period (S1), producing effluent concentrations of 0.7 mg/L (93.2% removal) and 0.08 mg/L (79.6% removal), respectively. At the initial treatment of S1 and S2, the dissolved oxygen (DO) level rapidly increased until it reached a saturated concentration (6.8 mg/L DO) after 2 h period. Automatic on–off aeration time to maintain 3 mg/L DO set point (S4) resulted with a good effluent quality of NH₄⁺–N and Mn²⁺ compared with the 2 mg/L DO set point (S3) which did not meet the regulated standard limits. Through the automatic on–off aeration time, the saturated and excessive DO levels in the BAF system can be avoided consequently reduce the wastage of energy and electrical consumption for simultaneous NH₄⁺–N and Mn²⁺ removal from drinking water treatment.     

Continuous nitrifying granular sludge bioreactor: Influence of aeration and ammonium loading rate

Granulation of nitrifying bacteria was investigated in a continuous bubble column bioreactor. Then, the combined effect of aeration and ammonium loading rates on dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration as well as nitrification process was evaluated in the system using an experimental design technique. After 120 days, stable nitrifying granules with average diameter of 1.4 mm and settling velocities of 55 m/h were obtained. The influence of increasing ammonium loading rate (ALR) was found to be more significant than decreasing aeration rate on the reduction of DO concentration inside the nitrifying bioreactor. The system could handle the ALR values of 0.48–1.92 gNH₄⁺-N/L d with the ammonium removal efficiency from 65% to nearly 100% at the tested airflow rates of 2.5 and 4.5 L/min. At the low aeration, the complete ammonium conversion to nitrate was replaced with nitrite when the ALR increased to 1.44 gNH₄⁺-N/L d. At the high aeration, however, almost complete nitrification was achieved except the high ALR in which the nitrite accumulation was observed up to 38%. The study demonstrated that the continuous bioreactor had a considerable performance for obtaining stable nitrifying granules to have nitrite accumulation under control with changing the ratio of aeration rate and ALR.     

Pretreatment of municipal landfill leachate by a combined process

Biodegradability enhancement of landfill leachate using air stripping followed by coagulation/ultrafiltration (UF) processes was introduced. The air stripping process obtained a removal efficiency of 88.6% for ammonia nitrogen (NH₄–N) at air-to-liquid ratio of 3500 (pH 11) for stripping 18 h. The single coagulation process increased BOD/COD ratio by 0.089 with the FeCl₃ dosage of 570 mg l^?1 at pH 7.0, and the single UF process increased the BOD/COD ratio to 0.311 from 0.049. However, the combined process of coagulation/UF increased the BOD/COD ratio from 0.049 to 0.43, and the final biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), NH₄–N and colour of leachate were 1223.6 mg l^?1, 2845.5 mg l^?1, 145.1 mg l^?1 and 2056.8, respectively, when 3 kDa molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) membrane was used at the operating pressure 0.7 MPa. In ultrafiltration process, the average solution flux (J_V), concentration multiple (M_C) and retention rate (R) for COD was 107.3 l m^?2 h^?1, 6.3% and 84.2%, respectively.     

Removal of humic substances from landfill leachate by Fenton oxidation and coagulation

In this study, chemical oxygen demand (COD) was characterized as total organic constituents and the isolated humic substances (HS) were characterized as an individual organic contaminant in landfill leachate. It was found that the HS content of landfill leachate was 83.3%. The results of laboratory tests to determine the roles of HS in reducing the organic content of landfill leachate during Fenton process are presented. Furthermore, the performances of oxidation and coagulation of Fenton reaction on the removal of HS and COD from leachate were investigated. The change curves of HS removal were similar to those of COD. The HS removal was 30% higher than COD removal, which indicated that HS were mostly degraded into various intermediate organic compounds but not mineralized by Fenton reagent. The oxidation removal was greatly influenced by initial pH relative to the coagulation removal. The oxidation and coagulation removals were linear dependent with hydrogen peroxide and ferrous dosages, respectively. Ferrous dosage greatly influenced the coagulation removal of COD at low ratio ([H₂O₂]/[Fe²⁺] < 3.0), but not at extremely high ratio ([H₂O₂]/[Fe²⁺] > 6.0). The coagulation removal of HS was not affected obviously by oxidation due to both Fenton oxidation and coagulation remove high molecular weight organics preferentially. Higher temperature gave a positive effect on oxidation removal at low Fe²⁺ dosage, but this effect was not obvious at high Fe²⁺ dosage.     

Use of advance oxidation process to improve the biodegradability of olive oil mill effluents

In this study, recalcitrant total phenol (TPh) and organic matter removal were investigated at olive mill wastewater (OMW) in sequential Coagulation and Fenton system. This study focused on different operational parameters such as pH, H₂O₂, and Fe²⁺ dosages, and [Fe²⁺]/[H₂O₂] ratios. The optimum conditions were determined as; pH = 3; [Fe²⁺] = 2.5 g/L; [Fe²⁺]/[H₂O₂] = 2.5. A higher treatment efficiency was achieved at sequential Coagulation and Fenton system (COD, 65.5%) and TPh, 87.2%), compared to coagulation process (COD, 51.4%; total organic carbon (TOC), 38.6% and total nitrogen (TN) 52.1%). This study demonstrated that the Coagulation and Fenton process has a potential for efficient removal of phenolic pollutants from wastewater.     

Performance of a pilot scale up-flow septic tank for on-site decentralized treatment of residential wastewater

The aim of this research was to study the on-site anaerobic treatment of a medium-strength residential wastewater in a pilot-scale up-flow septic tank (UST). The effects of three different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) of 24, 12 and 6 h on the UST performance were investigated. The UST removed 85, 77, and 86% of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD₅), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total suspended solids (TSS), respectively, at steady state operation and with a 24 h HRT. Decreasing the HRT to 12 and then 6 h resulted in deteriorated effluent quality and significantly reduced reactor performance. The sludge showed a high specific methanogenic activity (SMA) of 15.2 mL CH₄ g^?1 VSS d^?1 with raw wastewater substrate. The solids accumulated in the tank by the end of the experiment had a VSS/TSS of 0.57, demonstrating significant stabilization. Overall, the UST is concluded to be a technically and economically promising alternative to conventional septic tanks for the on-site decentralized treatment of residential wastewater, particularly in the rural communities of developing countries.     

Evaluation of membrane bioreactor for hypersaline oily wastewater treatment

Produced water is a significant waste stream generated in association with oil and gas production. It contains high concentrations of hydrocarbon constituents and different salts. In this study, a membrane sequencing batch reactor (MSBR) was used to treat synthetic and real produced water. The MSBR was evaluated in terms of biodegradation of hydrocarbons in the synthetic produced water with various organic loading rates (OLR) (0.281, 0.563, 1.124, 2.248, and 3.372 kg COD/(m³ day)), cycle time (12, 24, and 48 h), and membrane performance. The effects of salt concentrations at different total dissolved solids (TDS) (35,000, 50,000, 100,000, 150,000, 200,000, and 250,000 mg/L) on biological treatment of the pollutants in the synthetic and real wastewater were studied. At an OLR of 1.124 kg COD/(m³ day), an HRT of 48 h and TDS of 35,000 mg/L, removal efficiencies of 97.5%, 97.2%, and 98.9% of COD, total organic carbon (TOC), and oil and grease (O&G), respectively were achieved. For the real produced water, removal rates of 86.2%, 90.8%, and 90% were obtained for the same conditions. However, with increasing salt content, the COD-removal efficiencies of the synthetic and real produced water were reduced to 90.4% and 17.7%, respectively at the highest TDS.     

Investigation of affecting parameters on treating high-strength compost leachate in a hybrid EGSB and fixed-bed reactor followed by electrocoagulation–flotation process

In this research, treatability of high-load compost leachate in a hybrid expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) and fixed-bed (FB) bioreactor followed by electrocoagulation–flotation (ECF) system was examined. The operational factors in EGSB–FB were influent chemical oxygen demand (COD), hydraulic retention time (HRT) and COD/nitrogen ratio (COD/N). And, their interactive effects on the efficiency of COD removal and biogas production rate (BPR) as responses were analyzed and correlated by response surface methodology (RSM). The optimum conditions of the hybrid EGSB–FB reactor were acquired at COD = 7800 mg/L, HRT = 35 h, COD/N = 70, in which COD removal efficiency was 83% and BPR 94 mL/h. The amount of confidence interval was 95%. COD (relevant coefficient = 9.8) and HRT (relevant coefficient = −24) were resulted respectively as the most effective parameters on COD removal and BPR. Yet, COD/N parameter imposed negative effect on COD removal and BPR in values less than about 100. The outcomes indicated that operated ECF as post-treatment in constant conditions (electrolysis time = 75 min, electrodes distance = 3 cm, voltage = 20 V) successfully satisfied discharge criteria in the most part of experimental domains.     

A cost effective method for decentralized sewage treatment

The aim of this research was to upgrade the performance of a conventional septic tank (CST) for on-site treatment of sewage with negligible costs. Although CST is known as an inexpensive pre-treatment system, a complementary treatment is required to reuse its output effluent. In this work, the quality of treated wastewater reached to the standard level for irrigation by the innovational changes made in the structure of CST for converting it into an advanced septic reactor (ASR). The modification consists adding some pipe and trays without using any mechanical or electrical equipment.ASR was operated at ambient temperatures in laboratory and pilot-scale. The effects of up-flow velocities (V_up) of 0.4, 0.5, 0.7, 1 and 1.5 m/h and hydraulic retention times (HRT) of 36, 24 and 12 h on the ASR treatment performance were studied.For optimum V_up of 1 m/h and HRT of 24 h and biomass specific methanogenic activity (SMA) of 0.31 mg COD/g VSS d the maximum removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) and total suspended solids (TSS) were 86.2%, 79.4% and 95%, respectively.The results showed that ASR is an appropriate alternative for CST for sewage on-site treatment by a low cost modification.     

Low-dose irradiation by electron beam for the treatment of high-SOx flue gas on a semi-pilot scale—Consideration of by-product quality and approach to clean technology

Attention has been focused on the treatment of lignite-fired flue gas in order to use lignite in an environmentally friendly way – (i) low-CO₂ emission, (ii) production of a valuable by-product, (iii) no discharge of wastewater, (iv) direct removal of SO₃ (strong toxicity), and (v) treatment of high SO₂ concentration. Based on these criteria, electron beam irradiation with ammonia injection was tested on a semi-pilot scale: 800 Nm³ h^?1 flow rate, 5500 ppm SO₂, 70 ppm NO_x, 22% flue gas moisture, and 75–80 °C at the reactor outlet.As an energy-saving measure, a low dose (5 kGy) of irradiation was applied: the problem lay in the by-product quality. It is considered that (NH₄)₂SO₃ and NH₄HSO₃ produced by thermal reactions are oxidized to form (NH₄)₂SO₄ (fertilizer) by an electron beam. However, not all reactions were complete because the by-product contained small amounts of H₂SO₄ and NH₂SO₃NH₄ (herbicide), so a vegetable pot test was performed to study the by-product quality: no adverse effect was observed. It is inferred from the pot test that slightly acidic soil may protect vegetables from disease and a small amount of NH₂SO₃NH₄ probably affects woody species and not herbaceous species.It is concluded that the electron beam system is noted as a multi-component pollution control process (removal of NO_x, SO₃, SO₂ and dioxins) and this system will contribute to environmentally friendly use of lignite as well as agricultural productivity via fertilizer supply.     

Modeling and optimization of activated sludge bulking for a real wastewater treatment plant using hybrid artificial neural networks-genetic algorithm approach

Prediction of sludge bulking is a matter of growing importance around the world. Sludge volume index (SVI) should be monitored to predict sludge bulking for a wastewater treatment plant. This study was an effort to develop hybrid artificial neural network-genetic algorithm models (MLPANN-GA and RBFANN-GA) to accurately predict SVI. Operating parameters, including MLVSS, pH, DO, temperature, TSS, COD and total nitrogen were the inputs of neural networks. Genetic algorithm was utilized in order to optimize weights and thresholds of the MLPANN and RFBANN models. Training procedures for SVI estimation were successful for both the MLPANN-GA and RBFANN-GA models. The training and validation models showed an almost perfect match between experimental and predicted values of SVI. The results indicated that with low experimental values of input data to train ANNs, the MLPANN-GA compared with the RBFANN-GA is more accurate due to higher coefficient of determination (R²) and lower root mean squared error (RMSE) values. The values of RMSE and R² for the optimal models approached 0 and 1, respectively. The mean average error for the ANN models did not exceed 3% of the input values of the measured SVI. The GA increased the accuracy of all the MLPANN and RBFANN models.     

The evaluation of potential purification of a horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland treating greywater in semi-arid environment

The potential purification of an horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands (HSSFCW) treating greywater in a Moroccan primary school was investigated according to the monitoring of water quality parameters over a period of 100 days through two simultaneous stages: first, an internal three dimensional grid of sampling ports; secondly, an entry and exit. The calibration of the relaxed TIS concentration model based on tank in series hydraulic assumption with experimental data gave the frequency distribution profiles of K-rate constant values for the three parameters: BOD₅, COD and TN, whose maximum values are respectively 50 m/yr, 70 m/yr, and 42 m/yr. The HSSFCW system has higher K-rate coefficient for all the three parameters at the bottom layer compared with the surface layer, with increasing K-rates over length. The analysis of bacteriological and chemical results has shown that the HSSFCW could not completely remove all pollutants (especially TN and TP), but it could be used successfully to upgrade the quality of greywater to an acceptable level. However, we predict that there will be an increase in removal efficiencies with time bearing in mind that the system is newly implemented.     

Two-stage biodegradation coupled with ultrafiltration for treatment of municipal landfill leachate

The municipal landfill leachate was treated in a hydrolysis–acidification reactor (HAR)/aerobic bio-contact oxidation reactor (ABOR) following a pretreatment with ultrafiltration (UF) membrane. Experiments were conducted continuously for 44 days at a constant flow rate of 20 l d⁻¹ and organic loading rates (OLRs) from 0.75 to 1.5 kgCOD m⁻³ per day. The results showed that COD of the leachate steadily decreased from 20,015 mg l⁻¹ to less than 3000 mg l⁻¹, and NH₄-N decreased from 368.6 mg l⁻¹ to 259.3 mg l⁻¹ in the UF process. The COD and NH₄-N removal efficiency of HAR was 56.7% and 27.7%, and that of ABOR was 94.6% and 86.7%, respectively. The total COD and NH₄-N removal efficiency reached 99.6% and 93.2%, respectively. UF and HAR played a critical role in raising the biodegradability of the landfill leachate, while ABOR had an important function on removing the dissolved NH₄-N in leachate.     

Effects of high ammonia loads on nitrogen mass balance and treatment performance of a biotrickling filter

A biotrickling filter packed with coal slag as packing medium was continuously used for more than 9 months under high ammonia loading rates of up to 140 g/m³/h. Nitrogen mass balance and microbial community analysis were conducted to evaluate the inhibitory effects of high ammonia concentration and metabolic by-products on the rates of nitrification. Ammonia removal efficiency reached above 99% at an empty bed retention time of as low as 8 s when inlet concentrations were below 350 ppm. The maximum and critical elimination capacities of the biotrickling filter were 118 g/m³/h and 108.1 g/m³/h, respectively. Kinetics analysis results showed that less than 2.5 s was required for the biotrickling filter with pH control to treat ammonia at concentrations of up to 500 ppm in compliance with the Taiwan EPA standard (outlet NH₃ < 1 ppm). Results of mass balance and microbial community analysis indicated that complete removal was mainly contributed by the activities of autotrophic ammonia oxidizing bacteria and not by physical absorption or adsorption at low loading rates. However, at high inlet loadings, ammonium became the dominant by-product due to inhibitory effects of high ammonia concentration on the bacterial community.     

Kinetics of nitrate reductive denitrification by nanoscale zero-valent iron

Nanoscale zero-valent iron (Fe⁰) was synthesized for nitrate denitrification. The reduction efficiency of nitrate decreased quickly with increasing initial pH value, increased considerably with the increasing dosage of nanoscale Fe⁰, and did not vary much with initial nitrate concentrations changing from 20 to 50 mg l^?1 when the excessive amount of nanoscale Fe⁰ was utilized. With reductive denitrification of nitrate by nanoscale Fe⁰, the removal rate of nitrate reached 96.4% in 30 min with nanoscale Fe⁰ dosage of 1.0 g l^?1 and pH_in 6.7, and more than 85% of the nitrate was transformed into ammonia. Kinetics analysis in batch studies demonstrates that the denitrification of nitrate by nanoscale Fe⁰ involves reaction on the metal surface, which fits well the pseudo-first order reaction with respect to nitrate concentration. The observed reaction rate constant of reductive denitrification of nitrate was determined to be 0.086 min^?1 with a nanoscale Fe⁰ dosage of 1.0 g l^?1 and pH_in 6.7. Fast and highly effective denitrification can be achieved by nanoscale Fe⁰ compared with commercial Fe⁰ powder, this is due to the extremely high surface area and high reactivity for nanoscale Fe⁰, which can enhance the denitrification efficiencies remarkably.     

Disintegration of waste activated sludge by different applications of Fenton process

Oxidative disintegration of municipal waste activated sludge (WAS) using conventional Fenton (Fe²⁺ + H₂O₂, CFP) and Fenton type (Fe⁰ + H₂O₂, FTP) processes was investigated and compared in terms of the efficiency of sludge disintegration and enhancement of anaerobic biodegradability. The influences of different operational variables namely sludge pH, initial concentration of Fe²⁺ or Fe⁰, and H₂O₂ were studied in detail. The optimum conditions have been found as catalyst iron dosage = 4 g/kg TS, H₂O₂ dosage = 40 g/kg TS and pH = 3 within 1 h oxidation period for both CFP and FTP. Kinetics studies were performed under optimal conditions. It was determined that the sludge disintegration was happened in two stages by both processes: rapid and subsequent slow disintegration stages and rapid sludge disintegration stage can be described by a zero-order kinetic model. The effects of oxidative sludge disintegration under the optimum conditions on anaerobic digestion were experienced with biochemical methane potential (BMP) assay in batch anaerobic reactors. Total methane production in the CFP and FTP pre-treated reactors increased by 26.9% and 38.0%, relative to the untreated reactor (digested the raw WAS). Furthermore, the total chemical oxygen demand reductions in the pre-treated reactors were improved as well.     

Removal of H2S by co-immobilized bacteria and fungi biocatalysts in a bio-trickling filter

Biological control of odor gases has gained more attention in recent years. In this study, removal performance of a vertical bio-trickling filter inoculated with bacteria and fungi was studied. Bacteria and fungi were isolated from activated sludge in a sewage treatment plant. By adopting “three step immobilization method”, the bio-trickling filter could degrade pollutant immediately once hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) passed. The optimal empty bed resident time was 20 s. The optimal elimination capacity was about 60 g H₂S m^?3 h^?1 with removal efficiency of 95%. And the maximum elimination capacity was 170 g H₂S m^?3 h^?1. Pressure drop was ranged between 5 and 15 mm H₂O per bed over the whole operation. Removal efficiency was not affected obviously after terminating nutrient supply. The bio-trickling filter could recover back after shut down H₂S gaseous and liquid supplies simultaneously. Microbial community structure in the bio-trickling filter was not changed significantly.Combining bacteria and fungi would be a better choice for inoculation into a bio-trickling filter because of the quickly degradation of H₂S and rapid recovery under shut-down experiment. This is the first study attempting to combine bacteria and fungi for removal of H₂S in a bio-trickling filter.